By NKIRU EVONGWA
Dialogues and presentations made by Igbo leaders at different fora on the nation’s solemn desire to ensure that a president of Igbo extraction emerges in 2015 could be counted as a demonstration of seriousness on their part. Comforting as this might be, political analysts cannot stop at imagining the realization of such herculean dream without a rallying point.
Compared to their South-west counterparts, the Igbo race has not had a platform that they could proudly call an “Igbo Party”, dominating the South-east, since after the Nigerian Council of Nigeria Citizens (NCNC) of the first republic and National Peoples Party / the National Party of Nigeria (NPP / NPN) of the second republic. When the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) was formed in 1923 after the introduction of the first elective principle in Nigeria by the Clifford’s constitution, it was not regarded as a national party because its activities were restricted to Lagos.
But the NNDP led by its first national president, Late Herbert Macaulay, dominated Lagos and won most elections held between 1923 and 1938. Also, under the Macpherson’s constitution when late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, formed the Action Group (AG) in 1951. Its aim was to contest and win elections in the West, which it achieved. Such land slide victory was also replicated when the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), led by Awolowo was formed after the military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo lifted the ban on political activities on Thursday September 21, 1978.
The UPN was recorded to have won election in the then five LOOBO States of the Western and Mid-West region comprising Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Bendel and Oyo states. Those subsequent electoral victories and power control by the founding fathers of the South-western states, observers said could not have been possible if they had not properly defined their goals at the formation of the various parties. And putting their acts together through a platform, which at formation is sown into the hearts of their people as one that would propagate their cause as a nation.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (AC N), which emulated their footprint, has been able to launch itself as a party to be reckoned with on Nigerias political arena within few years of existence. At the formation of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), the founding fathers vision was for it to be, “an all-embracing Igbo party that would go beyond Igbo land and accommodate people from all parts of the country”, a vision well accepted by the Igbo and many Nigerians that at last a party that would propagate the cause of the Igbos was born. But the various crises that rocked it created some form of doubts in the hearts of many of its admirers.
But APGA through its Director of Research, Planning and Communication, Chief Ugwunze Campbell, recently claimed that, “APGA is no more in crises; it is just undergoing a transformation.” If the words of some prominent Nigerians were something to go by, all hands need to be on deck for Igbos to scale through the 2015 contest for the office of Nigeria’s No 1 citizen, especially on the assumption that they might need to contest with other geo-political zones of the Country who are also showing serious interest on the seat.
Going by this, political analysts opine that there must be a rallying point from where this cause could be spread. In as much as eminent South-east leaders have imbibed this idea, politicians and political parties there have been ensnared in the web of disagreement over the political party from where this could be achieved. Former Minister for Education, Dr. Igwe Aja Nwachukwu stressed that, “there should be a rallying point. The West are getting many things because they are united.
Whether we like it or not, we have not had it better than the time of NPP because people could not take us for granted, even though we just came out of war.” All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) National chairman, Ogbonnaya Onu in a recent statement made available to the public said, “we should study the political terrain very carefully and take decisions which are in our own very best interest.” The founding chairman of APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie also threw his weight behind this when he said, “But this cannot be done without a political platform that is sympathetic to that aspiration.”
However, conflict of interest arose when it came to the point of choosing a platform. Chief Guy Ikokwu, a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) believes that, “they don’t have to be in one party. Even members of one family don’t have to belong to one party, or same religion to be united. So, you don’t tell people who have conscience and brain that they must take this or that way, it’s not done.
God didn’t make it so.” But Okorie stressed that, “All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), that platform that would have made it possible. Of course, the story of APGA is already well documented. We must understand that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), given its present composition and structure, is not going to give its ticket to an Igbo man to contest on its platform. Given this scenario, is it the ACN, or the CPC that the Igbo should be looking up to?” For ANPP, Onu, warned against relying on the PDP, “What we have today is that most of the Igbo elite are in the ruling party.
They believe that the ruling party is where the action is. This has its advantages. It certainly has many disadvantages. ‘‘It is very important to always consider what happens in such a case if, for one reason or the other, the ruling party is unable to make available its platform. In that case every effort made then, comes to nothing. The Igbo in politics should look beyond the ruling party. The Igbo need an alternative political party that has a national reach and is not perceived by the general public as a regionally-based party.
The All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, is that political party which the Igbo should embrace so that they can always make a viable choice. The Igbo need to diversify, as an insurance against the unknown and the unseen. However, Senator Okonkwo and his other APGA counterparts stressed that, “APGA is our platform; you can’t get any other in Igbo land. Yorubas have defined their platform; let Igbo people also do the same. I want to reassure you that APGA will be a party to beat in this country.” Whether it is APGA, PDP, ANPP, AC N or CPC, the most important thing to observers is that Igbos harmonise themselves for the great task ahead.
The Sun
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